Chapter 22

Koizumi Yuu stares at the empty school courtyard as Kiryuu Shori and Fukushima Shinichi disappears from her sight. Her mind couldnt digest everything that had happened so far. She took a step back and leans her back on the wall. She let out a big sigh as her brother Koizumi Kyoya approaches.

Kyoya: yuu chan, u look depressed. What happened?
Yuu: (shocked) oniichan...
Kyoya: (smiles) did something happen in class?
Yuu: (remembers Shori's words earlier) iie, nandemonai yo, oniichan..
Kyoya: saa. Lets go back.

Yuu nodded.

IN SHORI'S HOUSE

Shori slumped himself on the living room's couch. Shinichi flung a small towel on Shori's head.

Shori: (complains) ah.... this is so mixed up....
Shinichi: what is?
Shori: everything... why is everything happening now....
Shinichi: u cant ask such question darou. Everything will come up on the surface one day so let it be.
Shori: (wipes his head) demo na, shin... why does all this have to happen to me..?
Shinichi: (sits next to shori and placed his hand on shori's shoulder) if this has to happen to someone else, he will also ask the same question right?
Shori: (looks at shinichi and smiles) im relieved i have u as a friend.
Shinichi : im glad i have u to be my friend, shori.

Shori sunks himself on shinichi's upper arm, taking comfort from his mid embrace.

Shinichi: u can go sleep on the bed if u want to. U couldnt sleep last night right?
Shori: its okay. Let me take a nap here. Attatakai yo... (fell asleep)
Shinichi: (whispers) yukkuri yasumi da yo.

As shori dozes off on Shinichi's shoulder, Shinichi ruffles shori's hair gently.

NEXT DAY

Yuu grabs her friend's arm, hamano hikari urging her to come with her.

Hikari :slow down, yuu chan.
Yuu: i cant go alone, u have to come with me.
Hikari: im not so free tht i can disturb others dates (chuckles)

Yuu releases her ice magic making hikari shivers because of the cold. Hikari shrieks.

Hikari: coldd!! Gomen gomen
Yuu: mou hikari chan. This is about u too. U have to come with me.
Hikari: wakatta yo. Relax okay

Yuu's eyes are in circles. She couldnt sleep well last night out of anticipation. They both arrived at the rooftop and there they saw Asahina Mikan, Fukushima Shinichi, Kitayama Tsuyoshi and lastly Kiryuu Shori. Both the girls were suprised to see asahina mikan there.

Hikari: mikan chan? Why are u here?
Mikan: in case u wanna have questions abt chrome, ill be there to answer ur questions.
Yuu: eh.. demo...
Shori: dont worry. She also knows abt emperor.
Tsuyoshi: sou sou. Lets not make this a stiff conversation. Lets have our lunch here together.

Tsuyoshi opens up a pice of cloth and place it on the floor. Hikari comes close to him.

Hikari : (smiles) thts a great idea, kitayama kun.

Tsuyoshi jolted as hikari places down the bento boxes on the cloth tht he spreaded. He blushes till his ears. He wanted to thank her but his voice cracked making him feeling more embarased. Hikari just chuckles.
After they all settled on the cloth. Kiryuu Shori starts the conversation by flicking fire with his finger.

Shori : do u what is emperor?
Yuu: no...
Shori: but u know tht ure an emperor right?
Yuu : thts because.. my brother told me..
Shori: listen. Emperor powers are an inheritance. They go down in generations. Out of all people, only one person will be chosen to have the emperor magic during one period of time. Once this person dies, the magic will go to the other owner. So basically we are like the vessels for the emperor magic

Yuu: is there anyone choosing the emperor vessels?
Shori: i havent come across that kind of question before so i dont know.

Hikari: question desu! How many emperors are there altogether?
Shori: dunno. so far its just us. the ice emperor, koizumi yuu. The wind emperor, hamano hikari. The fire emperor, myself. The shadow emperor, fukushima shinichi. The metal emperor, sabaku natsuki.

Hikari: sabaku natsuki?
Shori: ah, the one who was with us during the tournament.
Hikari: ooh! Tht one.
Yuu: so tht girl might be one of thr emperor too...
Shori: who?
Yuu: there was this one girl i met during thr tournament... she was the one who created the sand barrier.. if im not mistaken.. her name is... umm... i cant remember.
Shori: so tht makes 6 of us for now.

Hikari :so what is the duty of an emperor?
Yuu: duty? Tht sounds heavy...
Shori: thats a good question. In the history, before the chromes existed, emperor rules Helencia region. There were lots of emperors of the same kind. Everyone depended on the emperors with regard to the safety of the region. At that time, elves, fairies and other creatures rule the other region. Emperor has been the trademark of Helencia Region.

Everyone gulped.

Hikari : so what happened then..?
Shori: when the humans greed for power, they start inventing chromes magic crystal which they extract from the fairies and elves. Thts when the creatures attack the humans and tht resulted the death of most emperors. Until a time when only one of each emperor remain, they decided to retreat.

Asahina Mikan: tht resulted the emperor magic to be inherited by one person of each generation.
Hikari: (turns to Mikan) what about chrome then? U said that human used magic crystal's extracted by the fairies n elves to make chrome?
Tsuyoshi: (sips from the can drink) about chrome, some still uses the chrome magic crystals to regenerate a chrome child. Some inherit from their parents who are both chrome users.
Mikan: and some are just infected by the chrome virus .
Yuu: virus ?
Tsuyoshi: not long time ago, the massive crystal of chrome burst, polluting the earth's air. U can say tht it exists like vapour. And its very sensitive to new born babies. Thts how people get a sudden chrome child.
Mikan: and because they dont know how to take care of the chrome child, they send their children to chrome schools n academies. Thts what happen to me though...

Shori: plus now the earth is over populated with chrome users... and some cant even control their chromes. Thts why the country build an academy for chrome users specifically.
Mikan : and now here we are. Helencia Gakuen makes a twinning program with our old academy.

Everyone keeps quiet, trying to digest every information into their brains.

Shori: are u okay, koizumi san?
Yuu: (gasped) ah.. yeah.. chotto ne..
Shori: i know its hard for u to accept all these at once but one day ull definitely find out abt this. So let it be today.
Hikari: (thinks) so it means tht the king knows abt emperors?
Shori: king? Helencia king? Of course. The emperors work under the king in ancient time. And Helencia was always under the control of Kuhouin family.
Hikari: oh!
Shori: ... ure thinking abt something na?
Hikari: iie iie, nandemonai yo. (stretches herself) all this are making me stiff. But ill stick around with u, kiryuu kun, since im a little bit concerned abt emperors.
Shori: well, i have my own reasons too.

DING DONG DING DONG

Mikan : there goes the bell. We should head back to class.

Everyone agrees to Asahina Mikan. They stood up and clean up the place without conversing. Everyone is just engrossed in their own thinking. They went back to their class without uttering a single word. Yuu excused herself to go to the bathroom. As she walks down the stairs, she met her brother.

Yuu: oniichan?
Kyoya: yuu chan (smiles) isnt lunch's over?
Yuu: chotto toilet ni... (pouts)
Kyoya: hai hai.

As yuu passes by him, he noticed something and grabbed her arm. Yuu turns towards her brother in a suprise.

Yuu: eeh? Oniichan??
Kyoya: (looks closely on Yuu's fingertips)

Yuu's fingertips are covered with fragments of ice.

Yuu: (sweatdrop)
Kyoya: are u stressed over something?
Yuu: (retracts her hand from her brother's hand)
Kyoya: (sighed) anyway, dont be too overstress. I dont want u to get sick okay?

Kyoya pats gently on yuu's head before walking away.

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